Big tattoo is pain in neck for jobseeker
A JOB hunter says he has been turned away for 30 jobs because of an enormous neck tattoo.
Joe Parsons, 21, got the £250, six-inch throbbing red heart with turquoise angel wings in memory of his late grandfather while he worked in a factory.
He claims that, while he has no problem getting interviews, he has never managed to get a job thanks to his inking.
He has tried attending interviews wearing high-necked shirts but the tips of the wings still peek out above the collar line. Fed-up Joe, from Collyhurst, North Manchester, insists he doesn’t regret getting the body art – but wishes potential bosses could see past it.
He said: “Before I got the tattoo people thought I was a happy, confident person. Now it feels like people think I’m full of myself and that I don’t give a damn.
“That’s just not who I am. I’m just a normal person and all I want is a decent job. There’s definitely a stigma attached, which there shouldn’t be. I do think it’s a form of discrimination. “I still don’t regret it at all, though. I’m proud of it because it means so much. What I regret is how other people are perceiving it.” Joe went under the needle in November 2016 while working at the McVities factory in Stockport. It was in memory of his grandad, Thomas Parsons, 63, who died in a care home in August last year. Joe was forced to leave his job in January after his mum was attacked in the street and he quit to take care of her. She developed post traumatic stress disorder and he needed fulltime support from her son. “She’s not been the same since then,” he said. “I had to look after her pretty much full-time, which was why I left my job after Christmas. “I needed to be at home for her.” Joe started looking for a job in January but has been rejected 30 times for jobs at Topshop, Next and even TK Maxx where he was previously employed – before his tattoo. His lack of luck comes despite four years of experience in retail, hospitality and call centres. Joe has been supporting him mum financially and said the situation has become desperate.
I still don’t regret it at all. I’m proud of it. It means so much Joe Parsons on the tattoo in memory of his late grandad Thomas UNEMPLOYED MAN TURNED AWAY FROM 30 JOBS BECAUSE OF TRIBUTE TO GRANDAD